Phrasing attachment.



H. L. HBNTZ & J. W.- VINAL.

PHRASING ATTACHMENT.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 22. 1908,

Patented June 24, 1913.

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I, I 1 Cor zy- AIETENTE FI IQEO UNITE STATES HARRY L. HENTZ, OF WESTNEW'TON, AND JOSEPH W. VINAL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PHEASING ATTACHMENT.

Application filed June 22, 1908,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY L. HENTZ, of West Newton, in the county ofMiddlesex, and Josnri-r IV. VINAL, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk,each in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, both citizens of the UnitedStates, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in PhrasingAttachments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanical piano players, and is especiallydesigned for what are known as interior players, but is adaptable alsofor the exterior, or cabinet players.

Our invention has for its object the effecting of means for enabling theoperator of such an automaticplayer to control at will the loudness andsoftness of any particular part of the music being rendered, such as themelody, without affectin appreciably the remainder thereof, as theaccompaniment. In other words, our improvements relate to theconstruction of a phrasing attachmentfor automatic players.

Our invention for this purpose consists, first, in providing meanswhereby the operator can have designated to him in what portion of theinstrument lie the strings about to be sounded in a specified thread ofnotes, as the melody; and, second, in providing means whereby he can atwill change the expression of such designated strings.

Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure lis a frontelevation showing a portion of our attachment connected with akey manual. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a sheet of perforated musicadapted for indicating the locations in the instrument of the strings tobe sounded in the execution of a specified line of notes. Fig. 3 is aside sectional elevation of a piano action and key manual having ourattachment applied thereto. Fig. t is a front elevation in diagramsimilar to that of Fig. l, but upon a much smaller scale and showing thefull number of hammer-controlling devices. Fig. 5 is a cross sectionupon an enlarged scale of the tubular support for the shafts of the saiddevices.

The perforated sheet music and its operative mechanism are of the usualconstruction, with the exception that some particular line of theperforations, as those controlling the melody, are made to be clearlySpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 24:, 1913.

Serial No. 439,845.

visible to the operator. Preferably such line of perforations 2 of thesheet 1 is accompanied by a printed line 3 of some contrasting color;although a series of dots or spots 4 would serve the purpose practicallyas well. The only important thing is that such line of perforationsshall be clearly and readily distinguishable from the remainder of thesame.

Immediately in front of the perforated sheet 1 where it passes over thetrackerboard l such as is always employed, but not so close to the paperas to interfere with suction, is secured a bar or ribbon 5 bearing uponits face a plurality of space-indications each having its individualdesignating character, as the letters shown. The letters illustrated arepreferably 0, D, E, F and G, and the purpose in selecting the same is toenable us to employ an equal number of those keys in the extreme trebleor bass that are seldom or never used in manual playing of theinstrument, to be utilized as expression levers for effecting theoperation of the accenting device. In doing this, we provide the actionhammers with auxiliary rests, each rest supporting several hammers andthere being as many such rests as there are lettered spaces on themember 5, hereinafter termed the indicator. Said rest-s controlpreferably all the hammers within the range of substantially all theusual melodies. Said rests 6 are preferably five in number and supportedin a position to afford a rest for the heads of the hammers 7 and toretain the latter so near the strings 8 as to substantially reduce thestrength of the hammers blows when actuated, or to be swung away frompossible interference with the hammers, so that the latter can normallyrest against the usual hammerrest rail 9 and so be actuated with fullstrength. To thus adjust the position of any one or more of theseauxiliary rests 6, each is rigid with a slender shaft 10 rotatablysupported in bearings 11 within the hollow bar or tube 12. As shown inFigs. 1 and 3, each said shaft is formed with an arm 13 at one end forthe support of a rest 6, while its opposite end is provided with ahorizontal arm 14: projecting out through a suitable opening 15 in theface of the hollow bar 12. Each. arm 14 has depending therefrom avertical post 16 whose lower extremity is immediately above the innerend of a key 17. By depressing the outer end of such a key, the postassociated therewith rises and the corresponding rest 6 is swung awayfrom engagement with the heads of the hammers otherwise supportedthereby; a spring 18 pressing downward upon the upper end of said post,serving to normally retain its rest in the position shown in Fig. 3.

The post 16 at the extreme left. hand being connected with the rest (3to the left of the others; the second post from the left being connectedwith the second rest from the left, and so on, the operation of anyparticular rest. is dependent upon the depression of a correspondingkey. Consequently if at a particular instant the melody line 3 is withinthe space E on the indicator, the operator depresses the key E (Fig. 1)and thereby retracts the rest 6 corresponding to such position, andpermits the hammers full swing which were supported by such rest. lenceas the melody line passes from space to space on the indicator, thecorresponding keys are depressed, and the appropriate rests withdrawn toallow the melody to loudly sound, while all the other notes remainsubdued. If the operator wishes both melody and harmony to be equallyloud, he presses upon all five of the keys controlling the rests 6,while if he wishes the harmony to be strong and the melody subdued, hedepresses all said. keys except that corresponding to the spacetraversed by the melody line. By Varying the extent to which said keysare depressed, he secures different shades of expression; it beingevident that a swing of a rest 6 but partially from its normal positionpermits of but a slight increase in the vigor of its hammers strokes.

It is, of course, essential that the restoperating keys shall be mute,in order that discords shall not be produced by their manipulation. Torender such keys thus mute, we provide the tilting plate 21 mounted uponthe rocking shaft 22 and operated by means of the arm 23 rigid with suchshaft, and the lever 24c'intermediately pivoted to a suitable supportand having a pin 25 engaging a slot 26 in said arm. By pulling up uponthe thumb-piece 27, the rear edge of said plate is elevated and theaction raised thereby to a point to enable the keys controlling therests to be freely manipulated without afi'ecting their hammers, asshown in Fig. 3. This plate 21 serves another important function: "Whenit is desired to put this attachment out of control in order that thepianoplayer shall operate with equal loudness on all the strings of thepiano, said plate is tilted with its front edge uppermost. This puts theaction of the five keys again into operative condition, and at the sametime elevates all the posts 16 sufficiently to swing all the rests awayfrom possible interference with the hammers.

For properly supporting the shafts 10, we prefer to mount them in thebi-part bearings 11 each of which consists of two fluted blocks as shownin Fig. 5. 'Each block contains a series of semi-circular recesses whichwhen put face to face form circular bearings. This is necessary be causeof the fact of each shaft being formed with an arm at each end and soincapable of being introduced longitudinally into suitable bearings. Byplacing the five shafts into a proper number of the bearingblocks 11 andthen benoing the sheet metal about the same to form the tubular bar 12,with the arms 1% protruding through the slots made therefor in one faceof such bar, as shown in Fig. 1, and fastening such parts together, asby a small bolt indicated in Fig. 5, said shafts are securely supported.

What we claim as our invention and for which we desire Letters Patent isas follows, to wit 1. The combination with a piano provided with theusual strings, hammers, action and keyboard, of an automatic playertherefor, means for reducing the effectof said hammers blows, said meansbeing divided into a moderate number of independent sections, and meanswhereby the depression of any one of an equal number of keys of saidkeyboard will affect a corresponding section of said blow-reducingmeans.

2. The combination with a piano con structed in the customary manner andhence having the usual strings, hammers, action and keyboard, of anautomatic player therefor, means for reducing the effect of said hammersblows, and means in contact wit-h a limited number of the seldom usedkeys of said keyboard whereby the depression of any one such key willaffect a limited sec tion of said blow-reducing means.

3. The combination with a musical instrument having a keyboard, and anautomatic player therefor, of means connected with certain seldom-usedkeys of the keyboard,

and operated thereby at will for affecting the action of the player;said means being provided with means to disconnect the said keys fromtheir normal functions.

4.. The combination with a piano having the customary strings, hammers,action and keyboard, of an automatic player therefor, means normallyacting to reduce the effectof the hammers blows, and keys located in thesaid keyboard and similar to the keys in the latter for temporarilywithdrawing any one of several sections of said reducing means for thepurpose of accenting the melody in the music being playec.

5. The combination with a musical instrument having the usual manual,and an automatic player having a perforated music sheet, of an indicatorfixed to the instrument in the path of the music sheet and having itsface divided into a plurality of spaces each bearing a letter of themusical scale, an equal number of devices for reducing the effect of thehammers blows each affecting a group of notes in the instrument, andmeans connected with certain keys of the manual for operating therespective devices; each key corresponding in name to a character onsaid spaces.

6. The combination wit-l1 a piano having the usual hammers, strings andmanual, and an automatic player having a perforated music sheet, of anindicator fixed to the piano in the path of the music sheet, a pluralityof rock shafts each having an arm descending rigidly therefrom, a hammerrest carried by each arm, arms horizontally projecting from said shafts,and posts descend ing from the horizontal arms into contact with theinner sections of an equal number of the keys of said manual.

7. The combination with a piano having the usual hammers, strings andmanual, and

an automatic player having a perforated music sheet, of an indicatorfixed to the piano in the path of the music sheet, a plurality of hammerrests each affecting a group of hammers, an equal number of verticallymovable posts each controlling one of said rests, an equal number ofkeys supporting said posts, and means operative at will fordisconnecting said keys from said posts.

8. The combination with a piano having the usual hammers, action,strings and man ual, and an automatic player having a perforated musicsheet, of a plurality of hammer rests each afiecting a group of hammers,an equal number of vertically movable posts each controlling one of saidrests, an equal number of keys supporting said posts, and meansoperative at will for disconnecting said keys from their actions, or forelevating said posts out of engagement with said keys and restoring suchkeys and actions to their normal conditions.

9. The combination with a piano having the usual hammers, action,strings and manual, and an automatic player having a perforated musicsheet, of a plurality of hammer rests each affecting a group of hammers,an equal number of vertically movable posts each controlling one of saidrests, an equal number of keys supporting said posts, a rock-shaft, aplate fixed to said shaft and penetrated by said posts, adjustable stopson said posts supporting the latter on said plate, and meanscont-rolling said shaft.

10. The combination with a piano having the usual hammers, action,strings and manual, and an automatic player having a perforated musicsheet, of a plurality of hammer rests, an equal number of verticallymovable posts each controlling one of said rests, a rock-shaft, a platefixed thereto, and means controlling said shaft; said plate beingadapted when rocked in one direction to raise the posts out ofengagement with their keys, and when rocked in the other direction topermit such engagement but to put the actions belonging to such keys outof engagement therewith. 7

In testimony that we claim the foregoing invention, we have hereunto setour hands this 18th day of June, 1908.

HARRY L. HENTZ. JOSEPH V7. VINAL.

\Vitnesses:

A. B. UPHAM, WARREN N. Axnns.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

